Network embeddedness and the exploration of novel technologies: technological distance, betweenness centrality and density

Gilsing, Victor; Nooteboom, Bart; Vanhaverbeke, Wim; Duysters, Geert; van den Oord, Ad

doi:10.1016/J.RESPOL.2008.08.010

Title

Network embeddedness and the exploration of novel technologies: technological distance, betweenness centrality and density

Author

Gilsing, Victor

Nooteboom, Bart

Vanhaverbeke, Wim

Duysters, Geert

van den Oord, Ad

Abstract

This paper aims to understand better the innovation potential of a firms alliance network. Here we analyze the role of an alliance network in terms of the technological distance between partners, a firms network position (centrality) and total network density.We study how these three elements of an alliance network, separately and in combination, affect the twin tasks in exploration, namely novelty creation on the one hand and its efficient absorption on the other hand. For an empirical test, we study technology-based alliance networks in the pharmaceutical, chemical and automotive industries. Our findings indicate that successful exploration indeed seems to require a delicate balance between these two exploration tasks. A second conclusion is that different network positions yield different pay-offs in terms of the number of explorative patents. In otherwords, success rates for exploration are not spread equally across firms. However, position alone does not tell the full story. Our empirical findings clearly indicate that exploration success also depends on the other two dimensions of embeddedness, namely technological distance and network density. The three elements of network embeddedness need to be considered jointly in order to understand their complementary effects on both novelty creation and absorptive capacity

Language

English

Source (journal)

Research policy. - Amsterdam, 1971, currens

Publication

Amsterdam : 2008

ISSN

0048-7333 [print]

1873-7625 [online]

DOI

10.1016/J.RESPOL.2008.08.010

Volume/pages